Original Post
Potentially a cure for HIV?
http://gizmodo.com/5713498/man-officially-cured-of-hiv
Would write something to contribute but I have 3 essays in this week. Enjoy?
Would write something to contribute but I have 3 essays in this week. Enjoy?
For the first time, a man has been declared officially cured of HIV. The remedy may nearly have killed him, but it opens a door—just a crack—to hope that we may someday kill off the scourge for good.
Strangely enough, the diagnosis that most concerned Timothy Ray Brown in 2007 was acute myeloid leukemia. HIV has been increasingly thought of as a manageable disease, though certainly a terribly burdensome one. What brought the 42-year old Brown under the care of Germany's Charite Universitatsmedizin Berlin hospital was the more immediate threat his cancer posed.
The treatment Brown underwent was aggressive: chemotherapy that destroyed the majority of his immune cells. Total body irradiation. Finally, a risky stem-cell transplant that nearly a third of patients don't survive—but that appears to have completely cured Brown of HIV.
Doctors were savvy when they chose a stem cell donor for Brown. The man whose bone marrow they used has a particular genetic mutation, present in an incredibly small percentage of people, that makes him almost invulnerable to HIV. With Brown's own defenses decimated by treatments, the healthy, HIV-resistant donor cells repopulated his immune system. The initial indications that the virus had abated were promising. But only just now, having taken no antiretroviral drugs since the transplant, and following extensive testing shows no signs whatsoever of HIV, have his doctors given the official word:
He's cured.
What does this mean for the future of treatment? It's not as though every HIV patient can or would want to go through the tremendous suffering that was prelude to Brown's recovery, or be able to afford the procedure if they could or did. But for the first time, we know that HIV can be cured, not just managed. It opens new avenues of research—gene therapy, stem cell treatments—that may otherwise have been thought dead ends.
[02:19] <Dr_Strangelove> nearly 3 hours of nobody saying a word
[02:19] * Tamer0 is now known as TamerAfk
[02:19] <Dr_Strangelove> gg toribash
[02:19] <+hampa> gg
[02:19] * Tamer0 is now known as TamerAfk
[02:19] <Dr_Strangelove> gg toribash
[02:19] <+hampa> gg
I fully expected to click the link to this thread and see the words "KILL ALL GAYS" in bold.
You have surprised me Dr_Strangelove.
Stem cells can fix practically anything, but it should be noted that this is not a 'targeted' cure. This would be akin to carpet bombing, rather than a precision strike.
I would imagine that this would cure any virus or disease or fungal infection, etc.
You have surprised me Dr_Strangelove.
Stem cells can fix practically anything, but it should be noted that this is not a 'targeted' cure. This would be akin to carpet bombing, rather than a precision strike.
I would imagine that this would cure any virus or disease or fungal infection, etc.
When I see you, my heart goes DOKI⑨DOKI
Fish: "Gorman has been chosen for admin. After a lengthy discussion we've all decided that Gorman is the best choice for the next admin."
Originally Posted by Gorman
I fully expected to click the link to this thread and see the words "KILL ALL GAYS" in bold.
You have surprised me Dr_Strangelove.
What a strange assumption. Why would I do that?
The most promising part of this article for me is that is wasn't even a rare genetic mutation in the donor's stem cells. It's very common in Northern Europe, which means that they may get the opportunity to test it extensively from donors in that area.
[02:19] <Dr_Strangelove> nearly 3 hours of nobody saying a word
[02:19] * Tamer0 is now known as TamerAfk
[02:19] <Dr_Strangelove> gg toribash
[02:19] <+hampa> gg
[02:19] * Tamer0 is now known as TamerAfk
[02:19] <Dr_Strangelove> gg toribash
[02:19] <+hampa> gg
